Like I’ve said, in Cyprus the bride and groom getting ready is a whole ritual on its own. Family and close friends gather in each ones house to get them ready for the big day. It’s all done under the sounds of traditional music.

This is mine:

After getting hair and makeup done I went upstairs to get my dress on.

The musicians came dressed in traditional folclore Cyprus uniforms and it was time for me to come downstairs were friends and family were waiting.

The whole thing is done following the lyrics of the traditional wedding song.

First, friends and family danced in frond of me the traditional straw basket with my shoes, the accessories, the perfume, the veil, anything that completes the bridal look and also the red cloth. Then my two MOH helped put the final touches of my bridal look, like lipstick, accessories veil ect. I wrote the names of my single friends on the bottom of my shoe. This is done so “that they would quickly follow in the brides footsteps and find their significant other”. [At the end of the day those whose names that are no longer visible is believed that will get married very soon (like the bouquet toss)].

writing on my shoes

And my MOHs puting them on

Then came time for my mother, father, godmother and other relatives to “smoke” me (I don’t know how else to say it in English) to cleanse the bad energies. It’s done with olive leaves blessed by the church.

And then to do the red cloth ritual that is done for good luck and fertility. They make the sign of the cross with it and then tie it three times around my waist.

And that’s it!

And then it was time for dancing and silly pics before heading to the church and getting married!

Sorry for being late to do my recap, but we barely had time to come home this past week.

I’m still not recovered from the wedding. It was so amazing but tiring also. I feel like I need to sleep 3 days in a row to get me back together.

So, let the recap begin…

I woke up early on Saturday morning feeling the anxiety of the day finally being here. We set up the final touches in the house, like displaying the tray we would use in the church, the basket with the shoes, my jewelry, the red cloth ect for the dressings. I left the veil to be put on the last minute for it to not get wrinkled much.

(the backet)

(the tray for the church)

(the chair I would sit during the dressings with the embroidered pillow)

The food I ordered from a local bakery for the dressings got delivered at 10pm and the make-up artists and my cousin the hairdresser arrived soon after.

They set the work station in the living room where there was good natural light and we started getting ready.

I found the opportunity to grab some food, knowing that it would be difficult to find time to eat later in the day.

The musicians got here at 14:30 and I got down the stairs for the dressings at 15:00

I don’t have pics from the dressings yet but I will get them from friends as soon as possible!

When we were all done at about 16:30 we got some time for fun pics wile people were getting ready to jump in the cars and head for the church. My aunt took some really good ones!!! Hope I will have them soon.

As the church was in another town we had set a meeting point near the church for my uncle to wait for us with the classic car and my side of friends and family to meet and head all together to the church in a car procession pumping the car horns and all. We do that in Cyprus both for the groom and the bride arriving to the church. Some of my friends got there a bit early and the groom’s procession past by them and they told me they had fun waving and pumping their horns to them and joking with the groom’s side as they were driving by.

I got there soon after (at 17:45) and we got some pics with the car before hopping in it and driving to the church.

My man was waiting for me at the entrance of the church with his parents and mine walked me to him. Just before reaching each other our parents stepped back to let us meet.

(him acting silly while waiting for me)

(He has a really annoying habit to never close his eyes when kissing. But I love him anyway.)

The people that came to the church went inside to get a seat and we walked the church aisle together with the priest guiding us by the hand.

We had the ceremony and then we got out and we had a balloon release and rice and petals thrown, and we kicked a vase of water to spill the water and walk on it. This is for “our life together to run as smooth as water”.

(married!!!!! yaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!)

Then I did the bouquet toss and my SIL got it!

We got some formal pics taken in front of the church and them we hurried to the reception hall. People were already waiting for us there and we took our places to greed people coming to the wedding, congratulating and giving us their gift.

This took about 3 hours.We had about 1700-1800 people coming. All the guests, after greeting us, got their cookie favor and headed to the buffet to get served and find somewhere to seat. During this time the DJ had a screen and he projected the original video clips of the songs he played as an entertainment for our guests. (Of course, in the Cypriot way, people came and go as they pleased, so by midnight there were only the closest friends and family left, about 300 people.)

At about 22:30 we headed up to the dance floor to have a toast and cut the cake which was amazing and everybody loved it!

We watched the same day edit video my photog made and then it was time for our first dance which was a surprise funny dance! And then PARTY TIME!!!! We danced ALL night. We stayed until 3:30 in the morning and I could not feel my feet the next day!

But there was no time to rest the next day. We spend the night at the same hotel we booked for our American friends. We woke up, had breakfast (well more of a lunch because of the time) with our friends and we headed to my MIL house to open and record all the envelopes in order for my MIL to take the money to the bank early the next morning. This took soooo long. We had to stop for dinner and continue until 2:00 in the morning. The next day we woke up early to go to the first tour we had organized for our US guests. They stayed the hole week after the wedding and it was like a mini honeymoon for us too as we took them on tours around the island.

It was super tiring because we didn’t have time to relax and sleep a lot but we enjoyed it soooooooo much! I got the chance to meet my husbands (eeeeeeep) friends and he got to spent time with them as he hadn’t seen them since he graduated from the university in California. We promised them we would go to the states to visit maybe in a year or too if we can make it! I can’t wait! It will be our normal honeymoon.

Fi’s uncle has an old jaguar from the 70s and he offered to take FI to the church. That is awesome as it goes so wonderful with our disco-retro theme! I didn’t have my camera when we went to invite them to take a pic of the car but it looks like this: (pic from google)

So I was searching to find another antique car to take me to the church to match the theme as well..

The problem is that renting an antique car is really expensive. The cheapest I found was like 550 euros, *aouch* :-/

BUT!

Today we were out inviting people (as we do every-single-night) and we found out that my father’s cousin’s uncle from her father’s side has an old triumph! And we can use that! Yaaaayyyyyyy!

It looks kinda like this (again pic from the net)

The only think is that it does not have AC so it will be so uncomfortable to use it for getting all the way from my house to the church half an hour away. But we can use our regular cars and set a meeting point close to the church and only go a short distance in the no AC car.

I had a blast at my bachelorette party last night! Funny veil and sash and all hahahaha!

My girls did a wonderful job organizing a fun night! We stayed in, at the house of my MOH. My MOH’s BIL painted me a thumbprint tree to which I will add more thumbprints along the way as we were just 14 girls there (and as much as I like this I could not have it as a guest book at such wedding as mine).

We had finger food and sweets and the had me a funny cake...

..and wine with edible hibiscus flowers that we will also use to toast at the wedding. (no picture yet :-()

Then we played games such as making a wedding dress out of toilet papers and pinning a funny penis on a poster while blindfolded. They also asked FI to answer some questions and then I had to answer them to see how well I know him. The questions were from innocent like “what is his favorite food” to naughty like “what’s his favorite sex position”. Well I scored 8/12 which is pretty good :-P

And my MOH had cards printed with phrases the girls had to fill like “dear Leni, when I found out that George proposed, I……………….” “When I see you walking down the aisle I will……………..” and they were told to avoid cheesy stuff but write funny things instead. Then my other MOH read them and I had to guess who wrote each.

We all laughed hard with all the comments and jokes that came out of this and all the games, my tummy hurts!

My presents were underwear and an AMAZING necklace! I love it and ow so sad that pics really do it no justice! Love it!

And I gave them their favors I DIYed which were a lavender scented olive oil soap, a hair mask with honey and coconut milk and a body scrub with olive oil, sugar and lemon.

Ow my MOH also printed pictures on paper and wrap them around chocolates and gave one to each of us.. this is mine:

And she got me a cute box to save all the memorabilia from this night

I don’t have a lot of pics of the night on my camera but as soon as I get the pics my girls took I will post more!

Every country though, or even every region in the same country, has its own different traditions that make each wedding different in its own way.

So let me walk you through my Big Fat Cypriot Wedding:

In Cyprus we have big weddings. We invite absolutely-every-single-one-person, the couple and the parents know! Everyone.

The funny thing is that, even though it is almost certain to invite 2000+ people, you can still have an “open” or a “close” type of wedding.

Open is were you invite absolutely-every-single-one-person and feed absolutely-every-single-one-person dinner in a buffet-style reception. To do this, the couple must have a venue that can accommodate at least 1500 people. The majority of the guests will come, wish the couple, give them money (yes, save that for a later explanation), eat/drink and leave.

Close is when you invite (all together now) absolutely-every-single-one-person but have a reception with canapés and finger food for the masses and a formal dinner for 350-450 friends and family. This type gives the couple more options for a venue but you still need to feed everyone in one way or another. (Food is very important to Cypriots!)

We are having an open wedding.

So.

In the morning of the wedding the bride and the groom are getting ready at their parents homes.

The close relatives and friends get to the bride/grooms home where “the dressings” are done. Musicians playing traditional music come usually dressed in traditional uniforms and singing traditional “wedding songs”. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that it`s all very traditional!

While the musicians sings, the “BM” helps the bride/groom put the final touches in their outfits. They shave the groom. The bride writes on the sole of her shoes the names of her single friends so “that they would quickly follow in her footsteps and find their significant other”. [At the end of the day those whose names that are no longer visible is believed that will get married very soon (like the bouquet toss)].

The parents and close relatives take turns and tie a big red handkerchief three times around the bride/grooms waist. This is for good luck and fertility.

Then again they take turns and “smoke” them. Not in that way!! Jiiiiz! What are you people thinking?

This way: It is like the incense sticks used to cleanse the bad energies.

Then they head for the church-have the religious ceremony-exit the church-yaayyyyyy we are married!

The only different thing is that the groom meets the bride in front of the church and they “walk to marriage” together.

And now the fun begins. They head for the venue, where the couple stands in a decorated spot at the entrance, followed by their parents. Like this:

The guests walk by the couple, congratulating and handing cards with money to them, and then proceed to the dinner.

Remember the guest numbers? Well this can normally take 2-3 hours. But the couple and the parents do not complain of sore feet because they will gather a lot of money from this. Money, that will cover all the wedding expenses and then some (depends on how expensive the whole thing was) to help the couple financially at the beginning of their life. Usually it’s enough to cover some loans or even a deposit for buying a house.

You see, this is a type of a “social loan”. The couple receives a certain amount of money when it’s most needed, and pays it back, bit by bit when it’s their turn to go to other people’s weddings. Furthermore, the couples` parents get their money back in a way, after being invited to various weddings themselves for all these years. Well it takes a social study to Analyze This (pun intended), but we won`t be going there. We will Analyze That video with highlights of a Cypriot wedding:

George and I met 2 years ago by common friends. We hit it off right from the beginning and we moved together after 2-3 months and we are since living together.

He is a wonderful person and has a great sense of humor and he is full of surprises.

As was the way he proposed. I mean I knew it was coming, but I never expected something like this. He had a friend invite me to a “renaissance garden exhibition” aw he said. So wen me and my friend arrived at the garden, I saw people dressed with renaissance costumes. I just thought it was part of the hole exhibition, but when we got closer, the dressed people “attacked” me and forcefully put me in a similar dress as I shockingly realized that there were MY FRIENDS! “ OMG what is happening?? OMG I don’t believe it” I kept repeating as I started to realize what was about to happen and I couldn’t stop giggling.

And yes Ladies and Gentlemen, my prince came on a (not so white) horse.

When I asked him: “How did you came up with that?” he said: “well I thought that every little girl dreams to be a princess, so I thought to try make you feel like one”

I never was a princes type of girl but he is so sweet for doing that!

He had a photographer cache the moment -thank God, because I was so shocked that I didn’t remember all the details..